NUTS-3 DE404 · Germany
Population
184,7542025
GDP
€9,550M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
187 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE404 · DEA32
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Gelsenkirchen, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 61). Runner-up: Potsdam, Kreisfreie Stadt (57). Contrarian pick: Potsdam, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 85).
Strengths
Economic base (85) · Labour market (70)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Gelsenkirchen, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Air quality (EU pctl 19) — Potsdam, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Gelsenkirchen, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Gelsenkirchen, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Potsdam, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Potsdam, Kreisfreie Stadt.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
56.5
61.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
50.5
53.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
52.3
44.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
40.7
19.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
62.0
70.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
27.0
33.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
51.8
42.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
0.9% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.5% 5y
14.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€51,693
€38,366
Population density
988 /km²
2,610 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,723M
€9,389M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€9M
€6M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€437M
€2,581M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€100M
€1,886M
GVA — construction (F)
€240M
€457M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,516M
€1,456M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,000
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
46,300 PPS
34,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€52,000
€38,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€23,042M
€20,727M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,607M
€2,530M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€47,281M
€59,763M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,626M
€2,097M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,896M
€2,792M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,660M
€8,640M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€85,288
€91,827
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,338M
€1,962M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
118,200
117,850
Self-employed persons
8,800
7,940
Employment in manufacturing (C)
2,390
9,940
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.0%
79.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.3%
4.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
99,200
144,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,943
6,830
Enterprise births
648
674
Enterprise deaths
646
709
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
3.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.1%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
32.2%
30.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.8%
35.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.4%
8.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.9%
20.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.6%
7.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,318,350
308,463
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
584 /1k
590 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,477 kt
7,391 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
735
969
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
398
362
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
28 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
33
38
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
120,046
170,149
Population aged 65+
37,970
54,700
Population aged under 15
26,738
43,081
Median age of population
42.8 yrs
42.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.6%
32.1%
Crude rate of total population change
2.5 /1k
2.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.9 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
10.0 /1k
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
12.6 /1k
Live births
1,427
2,669
Deaths
1,859
3,379
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.9%
57.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.14
1.66
Population density (persons per km²)
1,079 /km²
2,549 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
172,216
284,017
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.6%
24.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.0 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.7%
18.3%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,113 /100k
1,053 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
245 /100k
246 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
48.8 /100k
88.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
370 /100k
528 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,266 /100k
2,076 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
45 /M
35 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.56
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.161/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.055/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
43 m
68 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
40 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr